Whats on the table?

Between June 3 and 14, the latest round of climate negotiations will take place at Bonn, Germany. Three bodies that carry out the work of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change are meeting to negotiate on various issues. Following its first meeting in Bonn less than a month ago, ADP-2 will resume its work along with the regular annual session of SBI and SBSTA (SB38).

The latest COP at Doha that took place in December, 2012 had agreement on three fronts. First, the Kyoto Protocol, whose first commitment period came to an end in 2012 was given a fresh lease of life by adding on a second commitment period that will now run from 2013 – 2020. Of the large developed country emitters, it was only the US that did not sign on to the Kyoto Protocol when its first round of commitments were being negotiated. For the second round, others have followed in its footsteps. Canada dropped out of the Kyoto Protocol. Others such as Japan and Russia, while still party to it (and would like to avail Kyoto mechanisms in meeting their commitments), did not commit for the 2013 – 2020 period.

Secondly, it was agreed that the AWG-LCA track, a subsidiary body launched as part of the Bali Action Plan to come up with a long-term plan beyond 2012 would be closed. With that, various issues that were being discussed under this track such as finance, technology transfer, reducing emissions through avoiding deforestation (REDD), shared vision, review and emissions from bunker fuels would then be carried over to other relevant bodies for continued work.

Thirdly, it was agreed that ADP (Ad hoc working group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action) would continue to work on two issues - finding agreement on pre-2020 ambition and a framework for post-2020 agreement, carried out in two different work streams.

Although agreement on a post-2020 framework was agreed to in Durban in December, 2011 and work started on this under the ADP last year, many issues crowded out the negotiations last year being carried out under several different tracks trying to get agreement on many fronts by the Doha COP. Most of these issues, following the closure of two working groups will now be carried over into SBI and SBSTA at the Bonn meeting. Meanwhile, ADP will continue its work towards getting a comprehensive deal by the 2015 deadline. In some senses, the Bonn meeting marks the beginning of that “road to Paris” where COP-21 will be held in 2015. This could also be the last meeting to make progress on the issues at hand before the COP later this year in Warsaw, Poland.